Single cell analysis is a technique for detecting and/or quantifying with high accuracy biomolecules in cells for every single cell. To perform the single cell analysis, it is necessary to isolate cells for separate treatments, efficiently extract nucleic acids to be measured from the cells, synthesize a complementary chain (for example, cDNA), and if needed, perform sequence analysis of a product obtained by amplification.
Patent Document 1 discloses a device configured to capture respective cells in each pores of a porous array sheet, subsequently, capture a nucleic acid derived from the cell with a DNA probe that is immobilized in the pore and that has a different tag sequence for each pore to synthesize cDNA, and thus can obtain a product for sequence analysis capable of distinguishing from which cell the captured nucleic acid has been derived. The basic configuration (corresponding to FIG. 8 of Patent Document 1) of such device is shown in FIG. 1.
In the device of FIG. 1, a cell solution containing cells 101 is introduced from an inlet 106. The cell solution is sucked from an upper outlet 107 in order to fill an upper region 104 of a porous membrane 102 having a planar substrate shape with the cell solution. If a negative pressure is applied by sucking the solution from a lower outlet 108, the cell solution is sucked through the porous membrane 102, and the cells 101 are guided to a cell capture part 103. The cells 101 are captured by a lattice-shaped cell capture part 103 constructed on the porous membrane 102, and then, by disrupting the cells, the nucleic acids (for example, mRNA) within the cells are captured by a DNA probe (for example, a poly-T probe) immobilized within the porous membrane directly beneath the cells.
By using a device as shown in FIG. 1, the nucleic acids extracted from the captured cells can be captured with hardly any contact with regions other than the inner wall of the porous membrane which is the reaction region, and the nucleic acid (for example, cDNA) corresponding to the captured nucleic acid can be synthesized. Therefore, the probability that nucleic acids are adsorbed on the inner wall of the device unrelated to the reaction can be reduced, and a product for sequence analysis can be prepared highly efficiently.